The American Spectator

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Another Perspective

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The movie pushes the audience to realize a simple fact that's often forgotten in the modern technological age: as you learn more, you should realize not that you know so much but that you know so little. Knowledge, understanding, and advancement should never destroy our own sense of wonder and the openness to a reality beyond our own experience.

MADE FOR A SECULAR AUDIENCE, the movie demonstrates no religious awareness except for a scene in which a priest tries to exorcise Elizabeth's apartment. This scene actually raised the ire of at least one conservative reviewer, who considered it sacrilegious when Elizabeth remarks to David about the holy water on her apartment floor, "You'd better pick that up." In fact, that's theologically correct from a Catholic perspective because the holy water would have no effect on her since she's not a devil or an evil spirit.

Its secular tone allows the movie to tell a love story that involves the spirit of a woman whose body is in a coma. Casual conversations suggest that this sleeper of a movie did more to communicate with those who might have polled in favor of the removal of Terri Shiavo's feeding tube than our activist efforts.

Unfortunately, none of us seemed to notice this movie when it came out. Both the activists and the general public missed a fairly decent movie with some good acting. But it's not too late. Movies like this are an inexpensive tool for reaching the general public whether it's informal, by encouraging friends and family to look past the title and the DVD cover and rent it anyway, or more formal, by using it for a discussion group with a youth group, young adult group, study group, classroom, etc.

A suitable tribute to Terri on the anniversary of her death would be to watch the movie, let this story tell the story that was hers, and encourage someone else to watch it, too. You'll find it with the new releases in your video store and there will probably be lots of them available. Don't let the cover deceive you -- Witherspoon and Ruffalo don't look like that or even wear that clothing in the movie.

In the future, we should probably do a better job of following good films; not just the ones we find problematic. After all, some very well-known teachers have used stories to teach quite effectively.

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Books, Movies, Law